Normal Crises

• In Event: 3184 - Section on Sociology of Culture Refereed Roundtable Session
  In Refereed Roundtable 100min: Table 14. Morality, Legitimacy, and Crises

Abstract

If scandal is occasioned by abnormal behavior, how can a scandal be described as “normal”? Drawing primarily on a Simmelian tradition, which is passed down through the work of Erving Goffman, I present a theory of scandal based on secrecy and the secret society. I consider scandal as a social form, a cultural object, and an historical event, with examples drawn from the great British sex scandals of the late eighteenth to the mid-nineteenth centuries and recent Vatican scandals to those of McCarthy and Watergate. I consider various senses in which scandals can be considered “normal” and apply the concept of normal scandal to the current political situation in the United States.

Author

• Mark D. Jacobs, George Mason University